Elixir of love in Barnet

Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir D’Amore), which comes to the Wyllyotts Theatre, Potters Bar next week, is a love story that features a travelling salesman’s love potion, which the quack doctor Dulcamara promises will cure all and change your life.

The Elixir of Love is a light hearted, colourful production with music that includes the tenor aria Una Furtiva Lagrima (A Furtive Tear). It premièred in Milan in 1832, and Donizetti originally set it in the Basque Country, but this production will instead be set at Barnet Fair, during the period 1890 to 1910.

Director, David Luck, says: “Having visited the fair as a child I remember the barkers trying to attract you to their colourful stalls, boxing booths, freak shows, helter-skelter and carousels.”

David decided to give the production this local angle after learning about a historical landmark in the area, the Barnet Physic Well, which was discovered on Barnet Common during the 17th Century. It became a popular location for its health-giving properties, and Barnet almost became a spa, while the well’s water was bottled and sold in London.

He adds: “It was my discovery of the well and its properties that clinched the idea of setting the production at Barnet Fair. Not that our doctor is selling water from the Barnet Physic Well, but as noted by Dickens and Pepys in their diaries the diuretic and humour giving properties of the Barnet Well make an obvious comparison to our perambulating doctor.

“So the time of the opera is rather less important than the idea that the eternal Elixir of Love potion could have been sold any time over the years at Barnet Fair.”

The cast includes several young singers including the sopranos Alexandra Hutton and Yvette Litchfield from Australia, tenor Renato Cordeiro from Brazil and bass Derek S Henderson from Panama, while the orchestra will be conducted by Neil Cloake.

Wyllyotts Theatre, Potters Bar, June 16 to June 18, 7.30pm. Tickets: 01707 645005, www.southgateopera.co.uk